From the journal
Life II - A Time-Traveler's Long Journey
Amazon website: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A4XLW2LFW5PZI/
LIFE II is a thoroughly entertaining trip through 25 years of a very personal timeline. Max, at an unhappy 42 years-of-age, caught in a well-paid but unfulfilling job, the father of two great kids and the husband of a loveless wife, is offered a dangerous opportunity that many of us have probably fantasized about.
What if you could re-live a section of your life by jumping back to a particular instant in your past? And what if you could bring all your current memories and life experiences with you? Would you choose to do it? Would what you hope to gain from it be worth what you might lose? These and many other interesting questions are grappled with by the frustrated, normally risk avoidant, main character, Max.
The story that flows from his fateful choice proves to be a thoughtful, turbulent, and often poignant, second-time ride through a life. Rather than just another interesting time-travel novel, I found LIFE II to be a fresh study in human behavior and family dynamics, as Max attempts to make changes in his new/old life and creates unexpected impacts on himself and everyone around him. LIFE II unfolds in a very methodical way once Max's choice is put into effect. Unconsidered details and incidental consequences plague him as he stumbles through his first few weeks in his old life at high school. Mr. Spotson's writing is very good and his knowledge of human interaction sparkles throughout. The book is lengthy, over 600 pages, but nevertheless, it seemed to go quite fast. I never found myself bored or worn out, even though Max was. His experience of living through all 25 years of his former life nearly killed him. Without giving spoilers, I felt some of the most powerful moments of his journey were found in his struggles to deal with the profound and unrecoverable personal losses his choice had caused. I admire an author who doesn't allow his main character to get any easy passes from the consequences of his own actions.
I really enjoyed the many twists and turns Max's new/old life took as he lived his way back, day-by-day, minute-by-minute, to when he started. What a wonderful plot device and a unique, sustained experience for the reader.
Less satisfying for me were the parts that dealt with the vintage book about time wave theory and the unusual character who controlled the actual time device. Don't get me wrong, I liked the idea of the old multi-lingual book itself, but its purpose was confusing to me, and I wondered if this was really the best way to discover time travel volunteers? I mean, how many book buyers did they expect would start searching for a code within the book? And even if a few did, how many would be likely to solve the code? And, finally, even if these rare humans solved the code, did the makers of the book truly believe most would drop everything and hop the next flight to Greece to track down a mysterious address? It all struck me as terribly convoluted and unreal but, I have to say, it didn't stop me from enjoying the code breaking sequence, and I cheerfully read right on from there anyway.
An additional irritation for me was the alien character's name itself: Dr. Time. Character names are important, and they can set a mood and tone all by themselves. This one felt discordant, almost flippant, like a comic book name. I agree, my reaction is very "nit-picky" but it affected my reading. I just never adjusted. Every interaction with Max felt cheapened by that silly name. I tried to accept the alien as a serious character but every time someone said, "Dr. Time," I just rolled my eyes.
On the other hand, the alien time devices and the explanations for how they worked, was delightful. Every historian and time travel aficionado would love to get their hands on a Time Weaver - imagine the historic moments you could check out in 3-D and full color! (If nothing else, you'd be sorely tempted to check out Cleopatra and Helen of Troy!)
On another issue, I found the chapter headings with their detailed months and years and exact times to be a source of unending annoyance. Every time I would start a new chapter I'd stop, look at that time stamp, and realize that I didn't remember all the details of the previous one. So, back I'd have to go to the earlier chapter heading and check it against the current one, only to discover, in many cases, that about 30 minutes of story time had passed. Maybe this is just my personal pickiness again, but those repetitious time stamps bugged me in nearly every chapter. I realize this is a time sensitive story and the chapter headings were probably an attempt to keep everything extremely clear, but a more useful mode, it seems to me, would have been to concoct chapter headings that related to the previous chapter. For example, instead of having a chapter heading that reads, "October 22, 2013 at 5:15 p.m." followed by a chapter heading, "October 23, 2013 at 12:07 p.m." why not have that second chapter simply read, "The next day, around noon," and so on? Help the reader, don't aggravate him.
Finally, I want to offer a brief comment about Lucinda Cedrera, the disgruntled time traveler who was absolutely convinced of a nefarious alien plot. I actually think she was a helpful addition to widen the focus of the story beyond Max's life and to intensify the last portion of the novel. Unfortunately, she felt exaggerated and, I believe, she appeared too late in the story. In addition, her arguments needed to be more convincing.
So, there you are, I've praised a bit and complained a bit, but I want to summarize very clearly. Overall, this is a wonderful book. I enjoyed the read a great deal and had abundant empathy for Max and his never-ending dilemma. I found myself mentally rolling through my own life and imagining the pros and cons of a life re-lived - and the immensity of what I would lose and the exhaustion of making the attempt. Good books make you do that. My negatives about LIFE II are picky and trivial compared to the overwhelming value I found in the novel. I highly recommend this book.
LIFE II is a thoroughly entertaining trip through 25 years of a very personal timeline. Max, at an unhappy 42 years-of-age, caught in a well-paid but unfulfilling job, the father of two great kids and the husband of a loveless wife, is offered a dangerous opportunity that many of us have probably fantasized about.
What if you could re-live a section of your life by jumping back to a particular instant in your past? And what if you could bring all your current memories and life experiences with you? Would you choose to do it? Would what you hope to gain from it be worth what you might lose? These and many other interesting questions are grappled with by the frustrated, normally risk avoidant, main character, Max.
The story that flows from his fateful choice proves to be a thoughtful, turbulent, and often poignant, second-time ride through a life. Rather than just another interesting time-travel novel, I found LIFE II to be a fresh study in human behavior and family dynamics, as Max attempts to make changes in his new/old life and creates unexpected impacts on himself and everyone around him. LIFE II unfolds in a very methodical way once Max's choice is put into effect. Unconsidered details and incidental consequences plague him as he stumbles through his first few weeks in his old life at high school. Mr. Spotson's writing is very good and his knowledge of human interaction sparkles throughout. The book is lengthy, over 600 pages, but nevertheless, it seemed to go quite fast. I never found myself bored or worn out, even though Max was. His experience of living through all 25 years of his former life nearly killed him. Without giving spoilers, I felt some of the most powerful moments of his journey were found in his struggles to deal with the profound and unrecoverable personal losses his choice had caused. I admire an author who doesn't allow his main character to get any easy passes from the consequences of his own actions.
I really enjoyed the many twists and turns Max's new/old life took as he lived his way back, day-by-day, minute-by-minute, to when he started. What a wonderful plot device and a unique, sustained experience for the reader.
Less satisfying for me were the parts that dealt with the vintage book about time wave theory and the unusual character who controlled the actual time device. Don't get me wrong, I liked the idea of the old multi-lingual book itself, but its purpose was confusing to me, and I wondered if this was really the best way to discover time travel volunteers? I mean, how many book buyers did they expect would start searching for a code within the book? And even if a few did, how many would be likely to solve the code? And, finally, even if these rare humans solved the code, did the makers of the book truly believe most would drop everything and hop the next flight to Greece to track down a mysterious address? It all struck me as terribly convoluted and unreal but, I have to say, it didn't stop me from enjoying the code breaking sequence, and I cheerfully read right on from there anyway.
An additional irritation for me was the alien character's name itself: Dr. Time. Character names are important, and they can set a mood and tone all by themselves. This one felt discordant, almost flippant, like a comic book name. I agree, my reaction is very "nit-picky" but it affected my reading. I just never adjusted. Every interaction with Max felt cheapened by that silly name. I tried to accept the alien as a serious character but every time someone said, "Dr. Time," I just rolled my eyes.
On the other hand, the alien time devices and the explanations for how they worked, was delightful. Every historian and time travel aficionado would love to get their hands on a Time Weaver - imagine the historic moments you could check out in 3-D and full color! (If nothing else, you'd be sorely tempted to check out Cleopatra and Helen of Troy!)
On another issue, I found the chapter headings with their detailed months and years and exact times to be a source of unending annoyance. Every time I would start a new chapter I'd stop, look at that time stamp, and realize that I didn't remember all the details of the previous one. So, back I'd have to go to the earlier chapter heading and check it against the current one, only to discover, in many cases, that about 30 minutes of story time had passed. Maybe this is just my personal pickiness again, but those repetitious time stamps bugged me in nearly every chapter. I realize this is a time sensitive story and the chapter headings were probably an attempt to keep everything extremely clear, but a more useful mode, it seems to me, would have been to concoct chapter headings that related to the previous chapter. For example, instead of having a chapter heading that reads, "October 22, 2013 at 5:15 p.m." followed by a chapter heading, "October 23, 2013 at 12:07 p.m." why not have that second chapter simply read, "The next day, around noon," and so on? Help the reader, don't aggravate him.
Finally, I want to offer a brief comment about Lucinda Cedrera, the disgruntled time traveler who was absolutely convinced of a nefarious alien plot. I actually think she was a helpful addition to widen the focus of the story beyond Max's life and to intensify the last portion of the novel. Unfortunately, she felt exaggerated and, I believe, she appeared too late in the story. In addition, her arguments needed to be more convincing.
So, there you are, I've praised a bit and complained a bit, but I want to summarize very clearly. Overall, this is a wonderful book. I enjoyed the read a great deal and had abundant empathy for Max and his never-ending dilemma. I found myself mentally rolling through my own life and imagining the pros and cons of a life re-lived - and the immensity of what I would lose and the exhaustion of making the attempt. Good books make you do that. My negatives about LIFE II are picky and trivial compared to the overwhelming value I found in the novel. I highly recommend this book.